Our take on: Infant heart screenings

February 16, 2012

Here's hoping that lawmakers in the Florida House will have a heart and approve a sensible measure to provide newborn babies with lifesaving screenings for congenital heart disease.

SB 1052, sponsored by state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, is sailing through the Florida Senate. Unfortunately, state Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, is having a tougher time moving the House counterpart, HB 829, through the lower chamber. For the health of Florida's newborns, the House should press forward with the same zeal as the Senate.

The legislation would ensure all infants receive a pulse-oximetry test, a non-invasive and inexpensive medical procedure that can detect heart problems by monitoring oxygen levels in red blood cells.

There's need for this legislation. Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect among newborns, and the leading cause of death among newborns within the first year of life. An estimated 40,000 infants across the country each year are born with the disease, and more than 400 infants each year in Florida die from it.